State agencies converge on Panama City

Tameka Thomas, left, talks with Elizabeth Jenkins at the second annual Florida Government Day at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City on Friday.

Andrew Wardlow | The News Herald

By CHRIS OLWELL / The News Herald

Published: Friday, November 9, 2012 at 07:53 PM.

PANAMA CITY — Representatives from more than a dozen state agencies gathered Friday for an open house at Gulf Coast State College to meet with members of the public and answer their questions.

It’s the second year for Government Day, said GCSC President Jim Kerley, who described the event as Rep. Jimmy Patronis’ “brainchild.” Government Day and events like it allow the school to act as a forum for community discussion.

“It’s always our goal to reach out and bring people together,” Kerley said. “I think that’s the idea behind this is to bring people together.”

That is at least part of the idea, said Patronis, who welcomed people to the event and mingled with attendants. It also a chance to introduce people to the numerous state agencies that often fly under the radar, the kind of agencies with which he became more familiar in the Legislature.

PANAMA CITY — Representatives from more than a dozen state agencies gathered Friday for an open house at Gulf Coast State College to meet with members of the public and answer their questions.

It’s the second year for Government Day, said GCSC President Jim Kerley, who described the event as Rep. Jimmy Patronis’ “brainchild.” Government Day and events like it allow the school to act as a forum for community discussion.

“It’s always our goal to reach out and bring people together,” Kerley said. “I think that’s the idea behind this is to bring people together.”

That is at least part of the idea, said Patronis, who welcomed people to the event and mingled with attendants. It also a chance to introduce people to the numerous state agencies that often fly under the radar, the kind of agencies with which he became more familiar in the Legislature.

The event also gives citizens an opportunity to bring their concerns directly to an agency.

“You’re not talking to an 800 number; you’re talking to a real live person who’s an authority,” Patronis said. “There’s some neat, neat decision makers in the room.”

One of those decision makers is Ash Williams, who, as executive director of the State Board of Administration, is in charge of the multibillion-dollar retirement fund for state workers.

For people like Jerry Musburger, a retired school teacher from Sauk Center, Minn., who spends the winters in Bay County, Government Day was a chance to meet Patronis and learn about various state agencies that don’t get much attention. Musberger told Patronis he planned to contact his representative back home and suggest a similar event.

“We have health-fair type things, but we don’t have anything like this,” Musberger said. “I think this is a wonderful idea.”

And, for the representatives of some of the lesser known agencies, it was chance to raise awareness about what they do, and in the case of Florida’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, which advocates for patients in long-term care facilities, it was an opportunity to recruit.

Mike Manley, the director of legislative affairs for the Florida Lottery, pointed out that the lottery has allowed GCSC to offer nearly 10,000 scholarships a year since 1997. Of course, that’s not what most people ask him about.

“Most people just want to know the numbers,” Manley joked. “I can’t help them with that.”